A Pair of Monumental Chamberlain & Co. Worcester Tomato Red-Ground Pedestal Vases and Covers, Circa 1850-51
Auction Closed
January 31, 05:43 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A Pair of Monumental Chamberlain & Co. Worcester Tomato Red-Ground Pedestal Vases and Covers, Circa 1850-51
of campana form, molded with a Greek key border, the lower body with gold and white gadrooning, the handles with bearded mask terminals, upon integral waisted pedestal bases, each painted with a blue-ground oval medallion en-grisaille bust-length portrait of either John Milton or William Shakespeare, within raised gilt laurel borders, the first painted on the reverse with a medieval castle on a hill, within a wreath of fruiting grapevine, the second painted with a Tudor house, perhaps Shakespeare's birthplace within a wreath of blackberry branches, the tall covers moulded in high relief with acanthus leaves, with urn-form knops, Chamberlain & Co./ Worcester script marks in dark puce-brown to covers
together with a copy of G. Virtue, Bradbury & Evans, The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue: The Industry of All Nations (London 1851)
overall height 32 3/4 in.
83 cm
G. A. Godden, Chamberlain-Worcester Porcelain 1788-1852 (London 1982), p. 306, no. 403 (for a drawing of the vase form from the factory shape book)
It has been speculated that the distinctive 'tomato-red'-ground seen on the present vases was introduced for the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce Company, and was used by Chamberlain & Co. for the 'Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce Vase', said to have been included on the Lea & Perrins stand at the Crystal Palace exhibition.
Chamberlain & Co. did not have their own stand at the Great exhibition, opting instead to show selected works through the firm Phillips. Of the few pieces the the manufactory showed the present vases were deemed, as noted in the The Industry of All Nations catalogue, to "uphold the reputation of the long-established 'Royal Porcelain Works,'- an industrial foundation which belongs to the history of English ceramic manufacturers, and which has flourished for more than a century in 'the faithful city' of its location."
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